Dayal's fight to reach for Skyharbor

Skyharbor guitarist Devesh Dayal faced an uphill struggle to aim for success as a guitarist in his native India.

The multi-national prog-metal outfit are nominated for an award at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods on Monday night. But it’s not so long ago that he believed he might be the only heavy musician in his home country.

Dayal tells TeamRock Radio: “In India there’s no real promotion for that kind of scene – there’s no MTV2 or anything like that. I didn’t even know there was a metal scene, or that it could actually be a thing to put together a band and tour. Through friends I discovered this entire scene that was blossoming.”

Now Skyharbor are heading the charge with today’s debut Download appearance on the Red Bull Studio Stage, he feels a responsibility to help out his fellows back at home.

“It really feels like we’re doing something that’s making a difference,” he says. “We’re one of the few bands that’s touring consistently outside of India. We definitely want to lead the way for the rest of them.” But he adds: “It’s surreal having that responsibility.”

Skyharbor last week launched a video for Evolution, the lead track from their upcoming second album, which hasn’t yet been named.

Skyharbor: Evolution

Skyharbor interview

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.